Salt‘s stunt trainer shares Angelina Jolie’s get-fit tips

Angelina Jolie is back just the way we like her: kicking ass and taking names. In Salt, she plays a CIA agent accused of becoming a Russian spy. We talked to her stunt instructor to find out how she got in secret-agent shape.

SELF: Angelina Jolie looks great in the Salt trailer, but first, we want to know, how did you teach her how to run in those stilettos without
falling on her butt?!

Simon Crane: Women look great in stilettos, but they are totally impractical. We had to have several other shoes standing by, ranging from same-colored sneakers to slightly lower heels.

What kind of padding did she have on her body when jumping from that bridge on to a moving truck? Was there something suspending her in air or was
she just free-falling?

When she did the jump/fall, she was wearing a rucksack which we put a lot of soft padding in. She also wore elbow, hip and knee pads. The stunt was accomplished by a combination of real fall and wire work.

Did she suffer any broken body parts? At the very least, did you
count her bruises?

Angie throws herself into everything fully, be it rehearsals or the actual shooting. We rehearse and test everything to the smallest detail with her stunt double, Eunice Huthart, before she ever tries anything. But saying that, as any athlete knows, there is no gain without pain!

We often used to joke about making her suffer, especially when wearing a harness. But she wouldn’t show me the bruises from that! There was a small incident on set, during her final fight Liev [Schrieber]. She had to dive through an opening door firing a gun. The dive was great, but as she carried the sequence on, she rushed into a corner piece of a set and bumped her head, resulting in the scheduled fight sequence to postponed and Angie taking a precautionary trip to the hospital (arguing against it all the way…she can be stubborn!).

How do you prepare an actress to handle a role like Salt?

I have worked with Angie for several years and on several films. I know her strengths and how to capitalize on them. The most important thing with her is allowing rehearsal time where one can develop of change the action accordingly.

For her fight training, we got her learning a combination of Muay Thai and Krav Magha very early on. We would then pick the moves she was best at and combine them into a sequence. The training, at the early stages, took up about three to four sessions a week, lasting approximately two hours each. When we started filming, we trained during lunch breaks or on the weekends.

One of the important issues was to bring her body and mind up to a level of fitness that would enable her to take on same of the physical pressures of Salt. I work with my usual team and her stunt double, Eunice, is also her trainer (which is lucky, really, since Angie does 99 percent of her own stuns, Eunice would otherwise be unemployed!).

How often do you practice the stunts before filming them?

We practice every little thing so much that we are actually bored of it by the time we come to film it. Testing and practice helps minimize risk and enable you to push the boundaries and keep it safe. Also, it’s the testing process where you can come up with great new ideas without having the pressures of having to film them. I have a great team that works with me, led by Wade Eastwood and approximately six others.

Is there a specific diet Angelina had to follow to maintain her
body weight and/or physique for the film?

Our strategy was (can you keep a secret?): she has to have 70% carbohydrates and 30% protein diet with an anaerobic training regime as opposed to aerobic, so she can put muscle on without losing weight. Sticking to four or five meals a day routine as much as possible. Then when she reaches a good body level that we like, we change it to 60%/40% favoring carbs. No junk food, no empty calories, and alcohol only on weekends (now that’s hard!).

Which was the hardest stunt to pull off and why?

For one sequence, she had to fall through a helicopter door backwards whilst being handcuffed. We had rehearsed a lot with the team and Eunice, but we didn’t have much time to rehearse with Angie. Needless to say, she was great on the first take.

Watch Angelina Jolie take on the CIA in Salt, in theatres Friday, July 23!